


Ray of Hope

by taubir



Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: Gen, Very OOC, some blood (not yet though), some violence, tags will change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-20
Updated: 2016-01-20
Packaged: 2018-05-15 04:41:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5771704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taubir/pseuds/taubir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stingray lives with three older brothers who constantly get on each other's nerves, and one younger brother who she suspects only joined the trainees so he wouldn't be left alone at home all day. Working hard to not only impress her family but to please the Queen herself is exactly what Ray strives for, each and every (other) day.</p><p>A fanwork written exclusively for the purpose of creating my headcanon on both SeaWing soldiers and the ins and outs of family life. Not written in any specific time period, but probably what one would imagine things to be if Oasis had never died. (Which means no Dragonets of Destiny, no Talons of Peace, etc.)</p><p>I am...unskilled at writing titles for works. "Ray of Hope" will probably change as I write more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ray of Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know absolutely nothing about the delicate workings of finances. So sue me ;P

_It was warm, and dark, and the soft sound of underwater vents pulsed around her ears. Ray was snuggled cozily against her brother Krait’s side, both resting peacefully in the gloom. Everything was muted underwater, whether it was sound, light, or even smell. Because of this, Ray could not hear her mother and father fighting, could not see the bright flashes of pleas being tapped out in Aquatic, could not taste the blood drifting in through the opening in her room. All she experienced that night was the safe warmth being radiated from her brother’s scales, comforting and lulling her ever deeper into the confines of sleep._

_All was well in her mind._

 

* * *

 

A deep, long note of a horn sounded, jarring Ray from her dreams. “Wha?” she slurred, bolting up and trying to open her sticky eyes. “Wha’s’it?”

A grumble from behind her alerted Ray to the presence of Scree, one of her brothers. “I swear they call it earlier and earlier everyday.”

“Naw, it’s sunrise,” came another voice. Sounded like Sponge, from the nasally tone. “It’s _always_ been sunrise.”

“The bloomin’ sun’s not even up yet!” Current grunted, flopping a wing over his eyes in front of Ray. “Tell ‘em to wake us up when it’s actually _day_ and not _night_ , when all sane dragons should still be asleep.”

“Oh, come on, everyone.” That was Krait, who stepped into view right beside Ray. He looked like he had been awake already. In fact, the circles under his eyes made it seem like he had been awake for hours. “We do this every other day. You should be used to it by now. You also ought to appreciate our days off while you can, because—“

“Because soon we’ll be actual soldiers and will have new responsibilities blah, blah, blah,” Scree said, stepping over the half-sleeping form of Current. “We get it already! We should be whispering praises to the Seawing royal guards, because they’re oh-so-perfect and wonderful and can do no wrong. Though,” he went on, shooting a look full of daggers at Sponge, just because he could. “It’s a little hard to be grateful when they still insist on getting us at such ungodly hours. _Especially_ after such an intense workout.”

Scree was talking about the muscle drills from the other day. Their squadron had been placed in strong currents and then ordered to paddle into the opposite direction of the flow, to help strengthen their muscles and prepare them for wielding heavy metal weapons, such as spears and clubs. The workout had been exhausting, and everyone was in a less-than-favorable mood afterwards.

Krait wasn’t taking any of it, though. “That’s just how it is, brother. Sponge, wake up Current. I’ll meet you all outside at our post.” And with that he swept out of the room in all his first-hatched grandeur.

...Not that it was much of a spectacle. All of Ray’s littermates were roughly the same age. Krait just broke free of his egg the quickest, and was therefore deemed the natural leader of their little family. It really annoyed her sometimes, when he acted like he was all that, just because he was a couple minutes older than everyone else. But she could understand where he came from sometimes. Being the first to hatch meant being responsible for the rest of your siblings, and that kind of pressure doesn’t exactly lessen over the years.

Scree snarled and clawed at the air bad-temperedly, before huffing in defeat and following Krait outside. Sponge practically had to drag Current away from his bed, but that was just because he was being a big baby. Ray was out last, still rubbing her eyes and half-hoping it was all just a bad dream.

The thunder of water that cascaded on top of her shoulders, however, soon assured her that she was very much awake.

“Three moons, it’s _freezing_ out,” Current complained, wings hugging his sides tightly while water poured from the sky. The canopy in the Summer Palace clearly didn’t seem to be serving its purpose very well. “Couldn’t they have picked a better day for drills?”

“Not everyone can predict the weather, squid-brain,” Krait said, looking pointedly at Scree, who acted defensive.

“Hey, it was just a lucky guess! ‘Red sky in the morning, dragon’s warning.’ I was merely spoutin’ an old nursery rhyme last night, no need for accusations.”

“I wasn’t accusing you of anything. You just jinxed us, that’s all.”

“C’mon, guys,” Ray spoke up, feebly trying to stop her brothers from arguing. “It’s just rain. The sooner we meet with our troop officers, the sooner we’ll be in the water.”

“Oh, shut up, Ray,” growled Scree, out of nowhere.

“Whoa, _hey!_ ” Krait shouted, stepping towards his brother and putting his tail between Ray and her offender. Despite the deafening downpour of the rainstorm around them, it got eerily quiet between the siblings. Ray could tell she wasn’t the only one feeling awkward. Cliff watched with an uneasy expression as Current seemingly forgot about his chilled scales and clammed up for once.

Krait and Scree stared each other down for only a few heartbeats, though it felt like forever. “Don’t talk like that to Stingray,” muttered Krait darkly. Scree paused, as if actually considering his brother’s words, before simply sniffing at him before turning around and promptly marching away.

“Come on, all you slowpokes,” he called, not looking back. “You don’t want to be late for our troop meeting, do you?”

Ray, Sponge, and Current all traded looks while Krait could be seen visibly restraining himself. “ _He’s just testing you. He’s in a bad mood, that’s it. You can do this_ ,” he whispered under his breath. “He’s right,” Krait called once he was finished calming down. “We should get moving.”

Their small party quickly scampered across the stony and puddle-covered pavilion, ducking into another hole in the wall that turned into a half-flooded tunnel. Ray, being the smallest, was able to swim alongside her brothers, who waded through the floodwater, distaste written clearly on their features.

“I tell you, Ray, you’re lucky people don’t expect much outta you,” commented Sponge, who kept slipping on hidden seaweed in the murky rainwater. “Or do you just not care about how you act?”

“What, about swimming in sludge?” Ray actually thought about her answer before replying. “I think it’s a little bit of both, to be honest.”

“Well, _I_ think they need some better drainage in here,” griped Current. “If it’s not ocean water, it’s not for swimming.”

“Yeah, I don’t care,” Ray reaffirmed, passing her brother in the water with a smug smile.

They emerged from the tunnel into an illuminated cave. Part of its ceiling had been eroded away by eons of rain and wind from the sea, and left an opening big enough to let ten dragons, wingtip to wingtip, fly into the cave. There was a deep pool in the center, where bioluminescent jellyfish floated lazily about near the bottom, casting what eerie light the faintly lit sky did not provide from the gap above.

Scree was already there, looking just as bedraggled and morose as the rest of his siblings. Just about every other troop was there as well, huddled in groups with their squad leaders. The head of the royal guard trainees, Mantis, along with Commander Shark were perched atop a cliff in the rock wall, watching Ray and her brothers enter with matching expressions of disinterest. No one looked entirely pleased to be here.

“Alright!” called out Mantis in a powerful voice, clapping her talons together once Ray and her brothers had reunited with Scree. “Looks like Cliff’s boys are cleaning the kitchens tonight. Last ones here…” she prompted.

“Have something to fear,” all the trainees chorused dully in unison. Ray tried not to grimace. She thought that was a ridiculous rule, and even more ridiculous rhyme.

Mantis, however, was nodding. “That’s right. I’ve chosen kitchens tonight because they haven’t been cleaned in weeks. Okay, now that _that’s_ out of the way… Shark!” Commander shark blinked slowly in her general direction. “What have we today for our recruits?”

The commander flicked his fat tail in lazy indifference. “If we’ll take advantage of the rain, flying practice will be done today.” Groans started rising from the crowd, and Shark drew himself up. “Oh, come on, you lazy seacows! Seize opportunities like this, and you’ll be prepared for anything. Is it not you who decided to train to protect and fight for Her Royal Majesty, Queen Coral of the Seawings?”

“If I knew that this is what we were doing, I would never have signed up for it!” called out a lone voice from across the room. Snickers followed, and Shark narrowed his eyes at the offender.

“Lichen, I will speak to you after the troops have dispersed.”

There was a beat of awkward silence before Mantis clapped her talons again. “Alrightie, is that it, Commander?”

Ray didn’t know how he managed to pull off sniffing disdainfully at everyone in the room, but sniff he did. “You may continue any previously planned tasks for your troops after the storm. That is all.”

“Cool! Okay, so, dismissed!”

Chatter rose up now that the meeting was officially over. One by one, in organized succession, dragon troops took to the air and flew through the hole in the roof. A few stayed behind to discuss schedule changes with Mantis or review their training regimen for the day, but most were already gone by the time Ray’s troop leader Cliff appeared.

“Sorry I’m late, everyone!” he called, drawing up near to them. Tucked under one wing was his waxy and mostly waterproof scroll, which he used to keep track of the day’s training agenda. “Are we all here?”

“All accounted for, yeah,” replied Krait, nodding towards Ray and the others.

“Good, great. Okay, let’s see here,” Cliff murmured, taking his scroll in one hand and unfurling it a little. Before he could start listing off possible activities, however, Sponge tapped his shoulder.

“Commander Shark wants us to practice flying in rain,” he said, shifting on his feet uncomfortably.

“Yeah,” Current agreed, coming up to stand beside Krait and Ray. “But if it ever lets up we can do whatever it was you got on that scroll there.”

“Whatever I _have_ on my scroll,” Cliff automatically corrected, before sighing in defeat and tucking the parchment back under his wing. “Well, sorry guys. I guess it’s gonna be flight practice all day, then.”

“Why?” Ray blurted out, only regretting her question after it had already escaped her mouth. _You don’t question orders_ , she berated herself uselessly.

Cliff glanced down at her in soft surprise. “Why? Because we can’t disobey Shark, obviously.”

“No, I mean, why do you think it’s gonna be all day?”

“Ah,” Cliff said, before shrugging. “I just said it to say it. I don’t actually know how long the rain is going to last. Although from here,” he murmured, eyeing the hole in the roof where rain spilled over in endless amounts. “It doesn’t look like it’ll be over before long. So let’s just get to it, gang! It only makes things worse the longer you wait to do them.”

Ray envied his optimism. It wasn’t like Cliff was going to be watching from the sidelines or anything. He was going to be battling through the storm along with them, fighting the sky currents and getting pelted with freezing water. Why should he be any happier about the exercise than the rest of them?

“I suppose you’re right,” Krait laughed, bunching his muscles and launching himself into the air with a powerful downstroke of his wings. “No sense in putting things off!”

“Hey, wait for us!” Scree called, taking to the air as well. Sponge and Current followed suit, smiling as Cliff’s cheer spread like an infectious disease. Said troop leader waited until Ray had taken flight before bringing up the rear of their party, shouting encouragement as the wind threatened to overtake everyone’s sudden burst of confidence.

 

* * *

 

 

The day went by as agonizingly slow as Ray guessed it would have. Having Cliff there didn’t make it unbearable, though, as he kept up his sunny disposition nearly the entire time. He’d offered advice and support where he could, instructing them like he always did. There were a few spinouts here and there, and Ray took a particularly large tumble as a gust of wind nearly blew her halfway to shore. But nothing too major happened.

They took shelter after Ray’s Grand Adventure to catch their breath and rest as Cliff quizzed them on what they did wrong and what maneuvers they could use to right themselves after a spinout. The usual stuff. After that they tried midair sparring with each other, Cliff occasionally commenting on their forms and giving out praise for good behavior. In other words, “Bickering isn’t going to get you anywhere in a real war,” and “Scree please stop purposefully whacking your brother with your tail, you’re throwing off his flight pattern.”

Eventually they went back at around midday, although no one could tell for sure what time it was since the rain had _still_ not let up. The siblings were released for a free period while Cliff refreshed his agenda and reported the day’s training to Mantis.

For their quick hour off, Ray and her brothers decided to visit the place they used to live in, before they adopted the vigorous new life of a soldier-in-training and moved into the stone dormitories of the Summer Palace.

Of course, their mother was positively ecstatic to see them home. Being underwater, there was limited conversation (which suited Ray just fine, to be perfectly honest) since discussion was limited to a one-on-one situation. But their mother still managed to squeeze some interaction out of every one of her dragonets, flashing and gesturing in Aquatic so erratically that it was difficult to understand her at some points. That was okay though, in Ray’s mind. Her mother did what she could, working as a nurse down in the trench. What little income she made went straight to her children, to support them in their free time and save up for what would inevitably happen.

War wasn’t easy. Dragons died all the time. Her mother was right to worry for her children’s wellbeing, and even smarter to worry about what would happen afterwards. If a child died, she’d have to pay for the remaining unused training time, a funeral, a replacement fee for the dormitories, etcetera. Not to mention she’d have to cough up some money for Cliff, who had to arrange all of the paperwork that went into filing the death of a SeaWing soldier and citizen. Money, money, money.

Ray really admired her.

 _All day?_ Her mother was wearing an expression of utter disbelief at Krait’s recount of the morning.

 _Yup_ , he signaled, latching onto a post in their home to keep from drifting off. _We trained all day in the freezing rain_. _It wasn’t so brutal, though_. He paused, probably thinking how to put this in Aquatic. _Cliff makes it okay to be working for the queen. He’s nice to us, unlike some other officers I see out there_.

Sponge, who had been watching the whole conversation like the rest of the siblings (because no one had anything better to do), nodded vigorously. _Oh yeah_ , he signed, lighting up his scales with a pained expression. _I saw one guy thwack his trainee out of the sky. I think he was super mad. The trainee looked like Shrimp, actually_.

 _That poor runt_ , Ray’s mother flashed slowly, looking on with a sad look. _He always gets the brunt of those officers_.

And so the free period was spent, exchanging gossip and hugs and _when will you learn to actually kill somebody?_ ’s and _geez mom, that subject’s not for another two months_ and so on. They left their mother’s house feeling considerably better than when they went in, aching joints and empty bellies aside. Speaking of, Ray had to remind everyone that there was still time to grab something from the kitchens if they hurried, and that’s how it came to be that Cliff’s boys came hobbling from the kitchen, loaded with stashed goodies that they could munch on later. Unfortunately, Cliff caught on to their shenanigans pretty quick and had them dispose of everything before practice.

“Goodbye, my sweet, precious octopus,” Sponge mewled as he dumped his food into the ocean. They were standing on the shore in a protected cove, just outside of the rain’s reach. Current snickered behind him while Scree rolled his eyes. “Return to the sea from whence you came.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Krait jeered, sticking his tongue out playfully. “We all have to sacrifice something.”

Scree snorted, “Oh, look who’s being the Queen of the DramaWings now. ‘ _Sacrifices_ ,’ my talons. It’s just a bit of food.”

“That was a bit uncalled for.”

“ _You’re_ a bit uncalled for.”

Cliff snapped his wings open to get everyone’s attention. “If we’ve quite _finished_ with our antics regarding the disposing of our food, which, may I remind you, is _not_ a difficult task, then I believe we should get started on our schedule.”

“Yes, Cliff.”

“Sorry, Cliff.”

Ray’s troop officer squeezed the bridge of his snout, sighing. “Okay, we all accounted for?”

Krait nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Great. Let’s get moving.”

And so the day ended much the same way as it had began. Wind walloped the trainees all about the sky, Cliff shouting encouragement from the side. Ray fortunately didn’t have any more accidents, although Sponge sort of gave up about halfway through, complaining about his sore joints. He ended up watching them, bobbing in frothy ocean as the rest of his squadron battled on in the air, shooting him dirty looks because Cliff just didn’t have the patience to urge Sponge back into the sky.

Sparring practice was painful only because of everyone’s overtaxed wing muscles and therefore shaky dodging maneuvers. More than once did Ray get knocked from her spot in the sky because Krait couldn’t twist his tail out of the way fast enough.

Cliff dismissed them early that day, patting them gingerly on the backs and saying how good of a job they did. Weary groans were the only reply. So troop and officer parted ways once again, wishing each other restful evenings and _hey, I’ll see you in a couple of days for our next meet_ ’s.

No one spoke much as they stumbled into their dormitory. Sponge was snoring before his head hit his seaweed bed, and Scree collapsed in the doorway, causing everyone else to step over him in order to proceed to their own sleeping places.

As Ray flopped into her little nest of kelp, she saw out of the corner of her eye Krait limping to the window. Only two moons were out tonight, each of them half full. This gave their room a peaceful glow, and especially made Ray feel safe and happy. She could see Current slither up next to Krait at the window and begin a conversation. Their words were too low for Ray to understand, but they didn’t sound too stressful. In fact, they both looked really relaxed. They were probably wishing each other goodnight or something.

As her heavy eyelids slid shut, she could have sworn she heard Krait mutter something about queens and fathers and scrolls with pictures and crocodiles that flew.

She might have dreamt that last part, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are always appreciated (just so long as you're not too hostile, of course)!
> 
> As the summary says, this was purely for fun, as I've always been fascinated by the world that Mrs. Sutherland created in her second book of the Wings Of Fire series. I only wanted to take it one step farther and explore life outside of the one Tsunami experienced in The Lost Heir.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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